BCS National Championship Game curbstompee Notre Dame finished in first place, overall, in the first round of NCAA Football's anything-goes cover voting contest currently running on Facebook.

Defending national curbstomper Alabama also is in the list of 32 finalists, and currently is the top vote getter in the second round of balloting, ahead of perennial power Kentucky, and bowl-eligible programs like Navy and West Virginia.

From here, the field will be cut in half in each round until an overall winner is determined. A schedule sent out by EA Sports said the game will reveal "potential cover athletes" for eight candidate schools from Jan. 23 to Feb. 3. A winner will be crowned on March 8.

This all began with, technically, every NCAA Division I-A Football Bowl Subdivision member eligible (there are 126). Apparently EA Sports has famous alumni and/or coaches at all these schools on speed dial if they're confident they'll have eight finalists with candidates willing to appear. God, I hope Kentucky's among them. I so want to see Hal Mumme on the cover of a video game.